Eating While Running - It's Like Cheating!!!

When I saw Dean Karnazes speak, he talked about how people asked him how he does it and he jokingly says that he arches forward and just puts one foot in front of the other. HAH! I wish it were that simple Dean.  Maybe for amazing runners like you, but for us normal people we have to think about many other things besides just running like my topic of the week...eating.  Dean can eat chinese, pizza, and cheesecake while running, but for those of us who do not have iron stomachs, things get a little bit more complex...

Once upon a time, I was not the smartest runner.  I did not realize the importance of fuel and hydration.  I just got out there and went.  I did not really see a need to eat or drink while running or training for a half marathon.  In my mind, I was out there to lose weight, so why would I be eating while doing it?  I used to think people were crazy for needing to eat so early on in the event.  Come on people it is only a mere 13.1 miles I thought why are you shooting back food like you did not eat a mere hour beforehand.  Boy, was I wrong!!!

Major, major fail Steph.  In fact, when I finally did wise up, I just remember thinking that eating while running was like CHEATING.  I had such a burst of energy and felt soo much better when I ate and drank while running that I just could not believe it was even allowed.  It is pretty darn amazing, if you ask me. 

While eating while running can result in some awesome results, it is also,  the source of much anxiety and problems for myself as well as many other runners.  If you eat too much, you may end of with stomach cramps or even worse in the bathroom (knock on wood).  If you pick the wrong food, your body may react funny.  If you eat too little, you might hit the pervival wall.  And let's not even begin to talk about timing - when do you eat? When you are hungry, before you are hungry? At the hour mark? At 5 miles? At 3 miles?  This has anxiety written all over it folks. So where or who do you turn to for advice? Dean who is very wise noted:

Get advice from everyone, listen to no one

Meaning what works for one person may not work for you.  Sure Dean can eat pizza like a burrioto and then wash it down with cheesecake, but I am, unfortunately, not that cool!  So what are you left to do but practice?  Think about works for you and try it out in your training runs - easy, right?  Well, while I have come a long way from my original no eating mentally, I have not perfected eating while running to date.  During my training runs, I have been eating at about an hour and then going from there with drinking every two miles (this has come from trial and error).  But my last 20 miler proved that maybe I need more or need to be doing something different...

Enlisting the experts,  I have been told that depending on your size you need 100 to 250 calories an hour, after the first hour! For me, specifically I have been told by some that I need 200 but others say that I need less.  Needless to say this has been the source of much anxiety for me.   And ultimately, there is not a lot of time left until my marathon and so many questions remain - what to eat? when to eat? how much to eat?  how to actually get that food ( I can't just order like Dean on the day of the marathon, or can I)?

So what is a girl to do? Through some very helpful women, I have come up with a plan for me.  I am not sure if this is going to work, but I am going to give it a whirl, keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best on race day.

Steph's Plan to Fuel Right During a Marathon

1) Every 30-45 minutes  fuel after the first hour (as long as your stomach will allow it) with food (about 50-100 calories worth)  Other than that, water or nuun every 2 miles, potentially less.  

2) Fuel options - different for everyone.  I personally know that GU & Shot Bloks work.  I am also interested in trying Mini-Snicker Bars, Pretzels & Bananas. 

3) Steph's Aid Stations On the Go - if at all possible carry some of your fuel and hydration or have someone there helping you.  Whether someone is running with you or you have planted someone along the way, this will ensure that you have all your fuel at your disposal. 

4) Breakfast - breakfast is going to fuel you for the first hour of the race.  For me, it is a scoop of PB, English Muffin, and a Banana as well as 16 oz of water/nuun.  Others can do more, others less.  Just do your best..

5) When all else fails, listen to your body.  If you need water, drink.  If you are hungry or feel your energy dropping, eat.  Be prepared  (if you can, have people along the course with different choices for you, when you come to them shout out what you want so they will have it ready).  Know your options (is the course offering Gatorade - what flavor?; what kind of Shot Bloks will they have).

That's it folks.  That is all I have learned to date.  Now it is your turn, how do you fuel and hydrate?  Any advice for me? When do you fuel and how much?

True Life Addictions - I am Addicted to Weather.com!

So I know I wrote yesterday Que Sera Sera, but you all know that the first thing I did this morning was go to my favorite website in the world - Weather.com.  I just can't help it!!  So you can imagine the smile that went across my face when I say partly sunny high of 65 low of 48.  SCORE!!  That's not the weather for today, if you though that, but for race day..seriously?!?  don't you know everything revolves around race day.

But sigh, of course, I am not that easily satisfied and when I checked the forecast again later today it has become high of 60 low of 45, partly cloudy.  More troublesome are the days before the marathon, showers!!!  So of course my logic is that if it rains days before the marathon, it will also run on the day of the marathon.  I know I can't control the weather, I know it will be what it will be.  I just REALLY want it to be 55 and partly sunny with no wind (unless it helps me)...is that too much to ask?!? Maybe....

If it rains, will I get there and go?  Yes of course! But am I praying very hard for no rain?  You better believe it!

In the meantime, I am going to try hard not to worry about it and instead focus on my last long run of the training cycle, a total of 6.2 tomorrow morning and to make it better I am running with my favorite running buddy as well as this girl who decide to come travel to us and join in on the fun.  I started this blog to find wonderful people to connect and run with.  I longed to be one of those "cool" girls that had friends to run with and had other runners to do races with.  And today as I was tweeting about tomorrow's run date, I realized that I have that!   Whether it was last night's decision for a group of us to run a 5K together in December, or today's confirming of a weekly run date, I can't help but smile.  Running with friends = WIN! Just can't get much better.  So on tap for tomorrow 6.2 at 10K race pace.  Will it be a perfect 10K pace, ehhh we will see...When runner ladies are out and about, it is hard not to chat it up instead of saving my breath for running fast.  But on the other hand these ladies push me to go faster and reach higher :)

Are you obsessed with weather.com?  If it rains on race day, do you have any good tips for me?

Que Sera Sera

My mother-in-law was a very very wise woman.  Right before she passed away,  she told her children in more ways than one "Que Sera Sera."  Even when she was suffering, she found peace and was able to accept what life had dealt her.  

I have learned many lessons from my mother-in-law and while she is no longer with me, I often spend time with her in my head, through pictures, and dreams.  This phrase "Que Sera Sera," which is the title of a poem and also a song brings me back down to reality again and again.  So much so that I even found a hip hop version to add to my playlist, of course.

Over the past couple of days, I have been a little bit uhhh crazy can we say? I have worried about blisters, side stitches, food consumption, hydration, and lets not even start in about my obsession with Weather.com, it is just unhealthy, if you were wondering. But then I received a comment that made me stop, one telling me that while I can worry about all of these things, in the end, in a few days, no matter what (knock on wood) I would be having one of the best days of my life and dominating 26.2  That same morning as those words came into my Inbox,  I was listening to Dean on the elliptical machine (book on tape - try it, its amazing) and he gave me similar advice.  He said that yes getting to the marathon in all different ways can be stressful and difficult as well as uncontrollable.  But to try your best not to let this worry you as much as possible because you can't control everything and just to have a blast.

Finally, that night another woman put this in perspective for me.  This is a BIG event for you, she explained.  It us almost like planning a wedding.  While you may not have booked a caterer, you have worked and invested a lot of yourself in this event and you want it to go perfectly.  But ultimately she said, as the saying goes, "You plan and G-d laughs."  Because nothing is ever going to be perfect, it will be what it will be.  In order words,

Que Sera Sera 

As always, my mother-in-law is always around me, always guiding me, always telling me to CHILL OUT STEPH!  To realize that you can't control everything and you just have to go with it.  Am I still worried about my blisters? Yes!  Do I still check weather.com?  You know it.  But am I trying to put things in perspective?  I really am!  This is a very exciting time in my life, I could spend it worrying and freaking out 100% of the time, or I could enjoy it.  So for now, I will enjoy it.  Enjoy the rest day tomorrow, enjoy my 6.2 with the running lady, and enjoy that JetBlue is letting me fly to D.C. Friday instead of Saturday for NO CHANGE FEE (oooh wait, I did not tell you about that one, more on that later and how it always pays to be a runner, I promise).

That's it for now folks.  Can someone please me remind me of this tomorrow when Weather.Com finally shows the race day forecast and I decide to have a mental breakdown over it.  Oh well, at least it will be a good blog post.

Who is racing this weekend?  How do you let go and just go along for the ride?  How do you come your nerves pre-big race?

Que Sera Sera - click here for the amazing hyped up version

I Am A Nuun Convert & Nuun Giveaway

Once upon a time, I tried Nuun.  I put a tablet into water, shook, and took a drink.  And....I did not like it.  It tasted funny almost liked flavored alka seltzer.  So I put the stuff away.

Then, I went to D.C.  It was humid.  We ran.  I loved my time with this amazing lady but the run was not the best.  I was crazy dehydrated.  I had to do something.   I tried again.  This time I took the tablet and split it in half and took a sip.  It was not bad.  It was not the most amazing drink ever but I began to like it.  And then I drank some more and a funny thing happened, I was no longer dehydrated.  I felt good.  My muscles recovered.   It was as if this magical tablet helped.  So I started to drink more of this so called Nuun during the week and began to like it more and more.   Half a tablet or two throughout the day but especially right after a workout and especially the day before a long run.   And I REALLY began to notice the difference.  So I bought more flavors - Tri-Berry, Tropical, Strawberry Lemonade YUM!!

So let's get more scientific.  Tell me what is really going on with this stuff.  Nuun is an electrolyte tablet that you put into your water and quickly dissolves into your water bottle.  It has zero sugar and under 8 calories.  It is easy to carry and use and it comes in a cool looking tube.   So the amazing Nuun website tells us that Nuun prevents dehydration.  But how?

Nuun's special formulation of electrolytes helps increase the amount of water that's absorbed into the blood stream.  That means more of the water you drink is actually used to hydrate you instead of being eliminated because the electroyte balance wasn't right.  Nuun is not energy.  We design Nuun just for hydration.  It's what we do best!


We all know about Nuun, it is pretty amazing stuff, right?  But like I said, at first I did not think it was for me.  I even told Liz on that very run in D.C. that it was not for me.  But I can be wrong, and boy was I wrong! Nuun is the perfect way to stay hydrated.  While it can't give you the added calories you need while you run, it is perfect for hydration and in my opinion a great way to stay hydrated before, during, and after a run.

We all also know how amazing Nuun is as a company.  And once again they did not fail.  They sent me some Nuun to try out and giveaway.  I got to try out Strawberry Lemonade, Tropical, Lemon tea, Grape, & Fruit Punch as well as water bottles!  My opinion I love Strawberry Lemonade, Tropical, & Grape.  Lemon Tea & Fruit Punch are not my cup of tea.   But, ultimately a big thumbs for Nuun once again.

Ok so now what? It is your turn to get to try out these flavors and get your own water bottle.  And not just one of you but three of you will win FIVE new tubes of Nuun plus a Nuun water bottle.

How do you win?!?

How to Win Some Wonderful Nuun

1)  Be a follower of this blog (mandatory)

2)  Follow me on twitter 

3) Tweet or blog about this "I want to win some @ministryofnuun from @26runforfun2 http://tinyurl.com/6dhcbd7"

4) Like Nuun on Facebook and let them know I sent you 

This giveaway will continue until next Wednesday at 6:30 when running buddy and I will be getting ready for my marathon debut by watching Spirit of the Marathon and attempting to calm me down!

Taper Crazies and the Hubby to the Rescue

Well it is official.  I have entered it - Taper Crazies....or maybe I am already crazy as this tee-shirt may in fact suggest...

So I know I promised a nuun giveaway and I promise it will happen, but after today I had to report back on, well, my day...so the Nuun giveaway will have to wait one more day.  I am sorry!

Now what happened you ask?  The answer, well...in one day I have created a new meaning of taper crazies, the "Run for Fun" definition of taper crazies...uhh..but not so fun.

Taper Crazies - a manic state that runners enter 13 days before a marathon that lead to massive amounts of tears, the inability to concentrate, frantic calls to doctors,  too many tweets, and just general freak outs

It all started last night when I tried to get some feedback on how to get rid of my blisters.

Ewww gross that is my foot and not even the worst part...

While everyone was super helpful and amazing and I can't thank everyone enough, it still freaked me out because I am sooo under prepared.  People started to tell me that I should have a half size larger on my shoes.  Apparently, I once again, missed the freakin memo!! And now we are 12 days out and given my summer of shoe sorrows, trying new shoes does not look like a possibility.   Commence the massive freaking out here! What am I going to do about my blisters?!? I can't get rid of them, I don't know what the best way to handle them is, I can't decide.  Ultimately, I am a mess!

EEEEE lol

Enter freak out number 2 - the side stitches. Not sure what to do about that, know the advice I have received, trying to implement it, but it is still fairly scary and nerve racking = crazy crazy Stephanie!

Take those things into account and what do you get - a crazy, upset, blubbering Stephanie.  As I ran around this morning getting for work, I just worried more.  Adding fuel to fire, I could not manage to get myself ready for work in time or find anything I needed to bring with me and ended up late for work.  The day was just full of sadness, worries, unneeded tears, anxiety, and fears....I feel like I am a weak, first time runner. Come on Steph it is JUST a marathon (hahaha, like I would ever believe that).   But yet here I am freaking out (have I mentioned that I am freaking out yet?)  

So what can be done to help stifle taper crazies?  A taper crazy hallmark edited to my liking...you won't believe it until you see it...

If you are having trouble reading it, here is what its said, Aaron's add-ins are in italics...

"On the journey of my life, every tomorrow is a running path waiting to be walked run, Seek out what makes you happy (i.e. running marathons).  Keep moving in the direction of your dreams + the finish line.  If the past water belts weighs you down, leave behind those things  water bottles that can't be changed refilled...Leave behind each "should have..." and if only..." "...I run faster"  Travel lightly and carry only what you need (e.g., water, nuun, GU, shot blocks) as well as hope, love, and belief in your self

Every Step, no matter how small, will take you somewhat closer to the finish line until one day, a few hours later you'll look back at how far you've come...and be amazed that you ran 26.2 miles

Remember...you're not alone.  Others (e.g., running buddies, friends, + family) are beside you, believing in you and looking forward to the day when life is your feet are much better for you.

This card was the closest thing to a marathon moral boost.  A few minor edits were necessary to maximize the effect.  I love you, believe in you, and will always be there because you're my crazy b***ch

End result, snap out of it Steph, you are very very lucky!

Have you ever experienced taper crazies? What is your definition of taper crazies?

Blister Blues, Side Stitch Sadness But Nice Nuun Giveaway Yay!!

Well we are 13 days out today from Race Day and officially in the throws of taper madness.  I know everyone says trust the taper, I know everyone worries about not logging the miles or not doing enough speed or hills etc.  While I am sure I can and will be spending time worrying about these things, right now, I am worried about the minor details.  The details that I should have already perfected.  The ones that come from your long runs where you are supposed to practice these things and get the kinks out.  But apparently, I missed the memo yet again and these issues decided to rear their lovely heads at the point of taper.  Great just great...

Aren't you all jealous of my beautiful looking foot?

Yup people I have blisters and side stitches and lots of them.  Why I had no problems up until now is unbeknownst to me but now with only 4 runs left and a Saturday long run of 6.2, I am going to just have to do my best with what I have.

So here we go with the issues (I promise light at the end of the tunnel):

Blisters - yup, I have got them and bad.  One on my right toe next to my big toe and one on the toe next to that.  And to add a cherry to the sundae, one of those blister's skin ripped off, it is not pretty and it is painful too.  It is currently wrapped, courtesy of the PT, with instructions to run on it tomorrow.

So what do you do, when you get practice yourself you ask?  The only thing you can do!  Ask the experts a.k.a blogger and tweeter buddies.  Seriously, who else do you depend on except complete strangers (relative term) to answer all of life's questions...

So what have the people come up with....

Blisters 

1) Skin Sake or Destin - lather up!

2) Body Glide - lather up (but not if you are using Destin, one or the other people, don't get greedy!)

3) New Socks - toe socks, new socks, different socks, anything just get rid of the old ones

4) Mole Skin

Did this advice help??  Welp, I already do Body Glide and am still getting blisters.  I have tried Mole Skin, but you know with my luck, I get more blisters (of course).  So I went out today and spent a ridiculous amount of money on socks!  Can you guess how much?  I bought four pairs, two toe socks and two from North Face....Tried the toe socks, no go.  North Face, we will try tomorrow.  Destin, I guess we are trying that tomorrow too eekkk!!

Dear North Face, You have been perfect before, please be perfect again!!

Stitches another fun topic of conversation.   It is not going well.   I got them twice now, once on the 20 miler at about Mile 10-12ish and once at the half marathon at Mile 3 for goodness sake. I know people say it is the breathing but I am not labored breathing or huffing and puffing.  Honestly, my guess it is the added food and water??!  What has the world (a.ka. bloggers and twitter buddies) told me...

For Side Stitches

1)  It is your breathing -  blow out hard (like you are blowing out candles), breathe with your belly

2)  It is dehydration - drink up

3)  You are drinking too much - drink slower

4)  You are eating too much before you run - eat less

5)  Raise your arm and bend

6) Push in the side cramp

7) Feel a cramp coming on, slow your pace, don't get out too fast, keep the slow pace till it subsides, don't stop or start suddenly

8) Stop, press a few fingers into your side, bend over forward, breathe deeply as you are doing this, then start again slowly

This is all great advice!!  Thank you soo much to everyone who has been helping.  I feel so loved.  But  at this point, I don't know really how to try any of it, which clearly freaks me out....just going to try to use it the best that I can.

Ok, so what about this amazing Nuun Giveaway.  If you have made it this far, I promise I will reward you.  Tomorrow I will post the full giveaway but for early entries give me some advice on blisters and side stitches (one comment for each please).  Added bonus a comment on how much you think I spent on four pairs of socks....

That's it for now...I will just leave you something to dream and drool over....

Isn't this what everyone's cabinets look like (you better bet that is the PB behind the nuun)

Bay State Half Marathon Race Recap

 I am currently reporting to you from the couch.  Clearly, where else would you find me at this point, actually you might find me trying to get up and get my compression socks. Why you ask?  What else, running!  This morning I ran the Baystate Half Marathon in Lowell.  And considering the 20 miler last week, the half marathon, and oh the party I threw last night (yes the night before I ran 13.1, I thought it was a good idea to host a party until 11:30 p.m., sure why not?), I am not planning on moving except for icecream for the next couple of hours.  27 Dresses is in the DVD and I am surrounded by water and Clif Bars.  I am set for life.  Ok on with it...

Let's just say pre-race for the Bay State Half/Full Marathon was a runner's dream.  Minus the fact that we had to get there super early to avoid the traffic, it was smooth sailing.  We got to sit around in the nice, warm Tsongas arena which had REGULAR bathrooms and lots of them, which I chose to use, multiple times.  Not only that, this was the first race that I had soo many people to hang out with pre-race.  My running buddy, her sister, my cousin, and my law school buddy were all running it and their supportive significant others were all in toe (so happy to be along for the ride).

Getting Ready!!! Love me some fuzzy pants (yes Aaron has his "Crazy" shirt underneath)

The running buddy and I!!! She is so ready to kill it and did! (left)


Oh hi law school buddy, so nice to see you! (right)

 The cousin dressed in pink.  Her awesome boyfriend made this amazing sign!!! "Hi Brenna,  Don't Get on the Bus!"  Zoom in on this picture, it is worth it. Love it!
We hung out in the nice arena until right before race time and then jumped outside as a herd of powerful women  on a mission.  We gave our well wishes and then I hung out with the Running Buddy for five minutes while we waited for the gun to go off.  How wonderful it was too have someone with me waiting in the beginning of the race.  But before I knew it, we were wishing each other luck and were off.  So how was it?  Well, I like to call this the yo-yo race, at one moment I was full of energy and happiness and the next minute I wanted to cry.  I would go from determination to exhaustion from courage to OMG I am never going to make it 26.2....

Let's talk goals.  While the goal for this race was to race, it was also to learn somethings in preparation for 26.2.  So goals were:

1)  Food - Try real food.  Apparently, I really need to be having more like 200 calories an hour during the marathon instead of 100.  I wanted to learn to use Gatorade, GUs, Shotbloks, and shocker, real food - like Snickers.

2) Aid Stations - I am scared of Aid Stations.  Of being slowed down.  Of drinking water out of the cup. Of dropping water all over myself.

3) Hydration - We all know what happened last weekend, I needed to hydrate better.  Drink more and drink Lemon-Lime Gatorade yuck, was the plan for today.

As soon as we started, I knew I felt great!  My legs felt soo rested and I could not calm them down slower than 8:15 and it felt good, too good to be true - oh Steph when will you ever learn.  You can see my short lived happiness here.  I could not help but show you a bunch of these!!!  Looking back on the pictures, I now know where my energy went...

                                

From Miles 1-6, I continued to feel good!  It felt so easy. I was flying.  But my stomach was not so happy.  For the past two times I have been running long, I have been dealing with side cramps.  I can't seem to get rid of them...help!!!  I have been stressing lately about eating enough during the marathon so this race I was using to learn what my body can handle.  The plan was that around Mile 5 I would fuel up with food, the dreaded Snickers, no less HAH! But ultimately my body had other plans and my tummy laughed at me.  So at Mile 4.5 I started to get my GU ready.  I store my GUs in my back zipper pocket and as I was trying to get it out and zip the pocket back up, I saw my cousins cheering.  Seriously, they must have thought I was picking a wedgie, it looked sooo awkward.  Sorry guys! I promise, I was just getting food.

Meanwhile, Aaron was waiting for me at Mile 5.  I bought mini water bottles with sports caps for him to hand to me.  But I was just so speedy he was not even ready for me as I whizzed by grabbing the water out of his hand.  I took the water and the GU = success on the GU, but fail not trying the Snickers.  I just am not sure it is going to happen...

Tongues out!!!

Unfortunately, it kind of went downhill from there.  I began to struggle.  I was able to hold on for a little longer with the GU but by Mile 7 I was not feeling it.  All of a sudden my legs felt dead!! I wanted to walk or lay down on the pavement.  And here is where the Yo-Yo began.  I started to doubt myself, to think that if seven miles was hard now, how was I going to get to 26.2.  Oh and there is that freaking side cramp again - CRAP!  But then I bounced back.  I told myself no!  I remembered all the other ladies out on the course with me.  I remembered my virtual race date with Samantha, and I kept going.

The half marathon was a double loop course.  I was told by some wonderful woman, who will remain nameless, you know who you are ( I love you though don't worry I could not do this without you!), that the course was flat. HAH! HAHAHA, not flat.  And to add to it, the wind was unforgiving.  Just as you start to get to the hill, the wind picks up and just keeps on going...funnnn bah....But I continued on, mustering strength from the 26.2 gods and having the opportunity to see Aaron twice and my good friend Ariella who jumped and cheered for me when I passed.  She cheered me on just before a hill - what is better than seeing someone right before a hill and letting them carry you?  Not much!

Meanwhile, back on the goals front, I tried the Lemon-Lime Gatorade.  FAIL!  I tried, I really did.  I took two or three sips but it just made me crazy thirsty...and in my opinion there were not enough water stops.  So once I had the Lemon-Lime I was thirsty for the next mile plus.  To add to it, it got all over my hands and was a sticky mess.  Thank goodness for my pit crew though and I grabbed some water soon after.  Also around Mile 10, I just felt out of steam,  and forced down two more Shot Bloks = Success - additional fueling!!

The last three miles were no easy feat - more hills, MORE wind.  I could not understand why my legs felt soo tired with just 13, which was disheartening.  But again, with the yo-yo, my last minute playlist worked out perfectly, with the best songs at the worst times.  Usually I spend hours on the playlist, lesson learned = only spend 10 minutes max to get best results on a playlist.   I continued to dig, thinking of the women, of the music and pushing as hard as I could, I was not moving fast but I was getting there.  Then we rounded the corners of death, the ones at the end, where the end never seems to come. Seriously, what is with that, why aren't there more clearly markings at those points.  Don't you just want to scream  WHERE THE HELL IS THIS FINISH?!?!

But finally, I saw it.  And I figured a good pump for good measure!!

End results

Goal #1: Food. I learned no on the Snickers, unless I get a major craving on the go (haha) but Vanilla GU with caffeine here I come

Goal #2:  Aid Station.  SUCCESS! Not too scary at all.  I rocked that.

Goal #3.  Hydrate.  Not bad.  Probably can still do more but the Lemon-Lime Gatorade is a NO go.  Ugh.  I tried some "light blue" Gatorade once I got home, not bad at all.  Trying that next week!

Ohh and the results:  1:52:51 - not a PR, but respectful.  AG: 62/385.  Overall:  512/1590...

So I can't complain, but better yet the ladies around me did awesome - running buddy with a one minute PR and what a time indeed, and my cousin with a ooo 20 minute PR, what now?!  So proud of all these ladies

Ok I need help!!! I am in blister hell (lots of cursing today, sorry!)  I have been getting awful blisters on my right foot, my two toes next to my big toe and on the side of my foot (buonion area) help!!!!  Also, side cramps, really? Help!! How was everyone else's weekend? Races, life beyond races?